aliwaks

very into the sweet hot thing ( our duck is glazed with gooseberry perserves & bere bere) or sweet sour but can't do sweet sweet sometimes food gets a bit sticky & cloying esp meats w. a sweet creamy sauce can't do it but then I am huge anti fan of cream sauces esp. with meats ugh

we're getting our first fresh strawberries this week!! at home I have granny smith apples, honeydew & red grapes only. in the restaurant we have lemons, apples, pears, limes, pink grapefruit, oranges and are thinking about pomelos,...need to take a trip to the asian super market none of it is local alas but the strawberries will be.

Used to love the revolving bar at the Marriot in NYC till last visit when sat facing the wrong direction and got sick, went to a reviovling restaurant in Toronto which just plain sucked (and Toronto has some great food Farnies Oyster bar!!!) One thing about revolving resataurants I do enjoy is watching the people who have left thier tabel try to find it again also think it woudl be a fabulous setting for a Body Heat style murder mystery...\ nighttime... the cityscape slowly revolves out of view we see a window in an apartment house lit up slowly we come upon th balcony curtains open soft conversation tinkling of glasses fill the room with the music of upscale dining when BAM gunshot body gets thrown off the balcony..Of course this is when our hero gets up from the bar nods to the shill and thus begins a very complicated who dunnit and why..

The customer also needs to assess what the restaurant is capable of. I've witnessed a order for a Black and Blue steak sent back twice and finally abandoned. The place bent over backwards to try to acommodate the request but couldn't because no one out here in the boondocks knew at the time what a Black and Blue steak was. And this was a $20.00+ entree at a very good restaurant. It cast a pall over the whole dinner. BTW The first attempt was nice, hot and bloody rare. I would of gladly kept it instead of trying to one-up the kitchen. PJ I had a customer order a steak "pittsburgh " then send it back because it was too rare and he really wanted it medium-well, need I include a glossary of steak terms with my menu

I send stuff back I do if it's not cooked properly or it's off (esp fish) or in one case a chicken salad that was so very unappetizing I couldn't bare to have it in front off me (FYI the replacement item came with a lovely addition, a metal coil from a scrub brush needless to say will not be patronizing that estb. again) What I cannnot stand....is the people who complain after they have finished every last bite and this happens here every once in a while in fact just last weekend. I had a 4 top 2 of which ordered the trout, the server did the first drop by everythinig ok yes yes then when it came time to order dessert the trout was terrible not fresh and on top of it there wasn't enough of it (hmmm it's 8 oz BTW). I ask you how should I deal with that. I want to say well then ass why did you eat the whole thing if it was so bad you could have sent the plate back then the chef & I can taste it and determine whether you are right in which case we will refund, offer another choice (most likely on the house as well) and even if we think you are wrong which can happen we will do the same becasue we want you to leave here happy. If you eat the whole thing then say it was terrible we have to then take your word for it..which is a dilemma because neither Amanda or I will eat an entire plate spoiled fish so we assume that you are one of those people who complain for the sport of it and possibly want a free dessert...which unfortunately for me I will give you anyway ( I ended up taking one trout off & offering them desserts on me and they were still nasty people) In general I send things back if they are undercooked, overcooked or spoiled, slimy has a bug etc because as a restaurant owner I want to know if food that is unacceptable comes out of the kitchen and so I extend the same courtesy to others in my business, if I think it just wasn't that great then I make a mental note not to go back.

wellllllll.... at the moment am alone eating a sandwich of metropolitan french country bread w. mustard aioli, cave aged cheddar, radishes, &smoked sauage. most of which was culled from the salad station...however some of my favorite alone meals include: Salt & Vinegar potato chips, dill havarti ,hummus & baby carrots all the skin from a whole roast chicken, the wings, the neck,the tuchkis & one drumstick & macaroni salad 15 oreos & some skim milk left over white rice w. 2 eggs & a lot of butter microwaved till eggs just cooked w. lots of crystal hot sauce grahmn crackers in a bowl w. skim milk cold macaroni & cheese and my v. favorite leftover sandwich which I am will ing to share but only w. memebers of my family: Cold chinese roast pork on garlic bread w. lots of duck sauce & a tiny bit of chinese mustard.

Jonathan, I think that there is an equation you are missing in your theory. This is going to sound very naive and girlish but some of us open retaurants becasue we can't imagine doing anything else and we find a way to make it work..I'm still trying to figure that out. Started out grossly undercapitalized when a partner dropped out a week before opening and have been STRUGGLING ever since. No cash to advertise or promote so we're working on word of mouth till May 18 when our big review comes out. That unfortunately will make us or break us adn I'll deal with that when I get to it. Whether or not there is a possibility for me to make "real money" I do not know, I figure since am not a chef opening a second restaurant would not be as disatrous since I could just hire another chef, I have been banking (no pun inteneded) on my little restaurant gaining enough accolades to entince investors in to pondering what I can do with a whole lot of money since I pulled off quite a feat with so little money. And thats how I was planning to make money in this business.

the wonka bar is amazing....also big fan of the pocket listerine should be a prerequisite for all food service employees (sometimes you just can't find the time to brush mid shift after either absent mindedly eating a garlic chip or sneaking an illicit smoke and gum is just so unseemly) back to topic at hand I will most definately reach for any shiny new confection..though will not always eat it myself last week I bought a tube of squeezable pudding (brownie flavor) but had our sous chef "Big Crazy" eat it. also a huge fan of these english red currant chews whose name I cannot rememeber (anyone?) that are ridicluously expensive ( like $6 a tin) love love them snatch them up whenever I can find them then guiltily hoard as long as possible and any sort of flowery pastille in a pretty box will eventually make it's way into my hands. I did buy some Italian licorce pastilles once because the tin was so attractive they tasted soooooooooooooo bad...only a fan of strong salty licorice ( I know you are out there) could warm up to these bits though they provided endless hours of amusement ...I would offer then up like want to taste something terrible and nine out of ten times the offeree would partake. OOOOH one more thing the Bertie Botts every flavor beans kept them up at the bar one night presented them as a game of chance ...could get cherry could get Booger....I got cherry freind got ear wax V. fun. hmmm I really seem to enjoy getting other people to eat groww stuff...harks back to 6th grade when I gave some guy in 50 cents to drink my backwash..didn't every one have a kid like that in thier class?

I think you can refund with the credit card number ...I am at odds with the service charge, for parties over 6 I add 18% unless during the course of the meal they seem unhappy about anything (esp. service) at which point I tell the server not to add gratuity 'cause I don't want anyone to feel obligated to tip for serviuce they are unhappy with (had that happen where a now former server was ignoring a tbale of six, I eneded up moving them to another table & buying them a bottle of wine so I told him under no circumstances was he to add a tip and I was taking the cost of the wine out of whatever they left him...btw they ended up leaving a 20% tip. Also have had guests add on top of the service charge I just suppose that they had a wonderful time & wanted to express thier delight also maybe they are on an expense account ( remember those?) In defense of the service charge there is nothing worse than busting your ass for a large table and ending up with a bad tip..and yes esp. if the guests are foregein ( why is there no spell check on this thing!!!!) had a Russian Party the other day who had us runnning around in circles and (BIG MISTAKE) I gave them the benefit of the doubt and the tipped horrifically

I'm thinking about rhubarb chutney too! to go with our pork chop for early spring that or a roasted rhubarb relish as I am curious about the roasting in olive oil ...also the maple syrup hmmmm maple glazed pork chop with roasted rhubarb relish anyone.?.... I love the idea of a chutney but read some where (F&W how America eats isssue I think) that the general public is not fond of chutneys in general. What is the difference btw a relish & a chutney anyway is it just semantics or is there a raw cooked thing? would roasted rhubarb relish really be a chutney in disguise? I really like the alliteration of roasted rhubarb relish

I had several dinners (unfortunately) with my fathers ( possibly & sometimes former) girlfriend. And each was a special kind of experience but would at least include one of the following: At La Campagna she asked if they had any other chairs becuase she had a bad back and didn't think she would feel comfortable in one of theirs, she then asked if the had mashed potatoes ( I must add that she was from Montreal and refused to speak english properly like almost eveyone I met in montreal) when she found out that this Italian restaurant did not have mashed po tah toes she inssted we leave and with a sniff stormed out At the Gotham she was horrednously drunk & threw an oyster at me then sat on my dates lap & tried to feed him oysters at Il trulli she slammed the door in my face then proceeded to mention to me how I probably shouldn't be eating what I had ordered becasue it was too much for a girl of my size & I should just order pasta ( BTW I had ordered fire roasted lamb & a salad) and when for brief moment the attention turned from this lunatic she decided we were talking about her because off course we were speaking in english threw back her chair hitting the duece behind us and ran screaming out of the restaurant. She also favored mantioning to anyone that dessert was only for skinny people and maybe they should re-consider and just have coffee. Her dessert of choice was a bowl of creme anglais . evil!!!!!!! at my place I have seen some crazy sh*t . Last week a man ordered a pittsburgh steak medium well and sent ot back 2x till it was dead, a woman spit out the nuts from the bar saying the were too spicy umm she spit them on the floor a man interrupted me while I was desricbing a beer to a total stranger to tell him that it was horrible. Also last week a tremendous amount of people requested veal in fact some came in asked about everydish on the menu then asked if hasd veal I said no they walked out. kinda hate people some time

hmmm JD Salinger just for the scandal though he doesn't seem like alot of fun i'd like to think I would choose someone fascinating and literate but if I can only choose one person i think i have to say Mr. Big Chris Noth from sex & the city because I would count this as a date he is single and seems like he knows how to have fun (it would of course be at French Laundry where else) of course if I was going highbrow I'd choose Oscar Wilde because it would be fun to sit with and mock others so would have to go hold court at Balthazar where we can drink lots get rowdy actually I think Tom Robbins would be an insane dinner companion so I think I chose him and we'd go to Herb Farm in WA. if Mr.Noth declines my invite to dinner and I am unable to exhume the spirit of Mr. Wilde.

pancake style matzo brie made w. onion matzo & large curd cottage cheese on the side i could eat like 500 right now...yes am a woman on the verge

salt & vinegar potato chips preferably kettle chips balsamic vinegar & sea salt though pringles will do in a pinch, steak rare prefferably w. bone in so I can gnaw ( though have been experimenting with pork due to extra high iron count) french fries w. mayonaise not ketchup every once in a while chocolate but have been progressivly loosing my sweet tooth...chocolate milkshake or an egg cream (I keep ubet choco syrup in my fridge) usually in combo w. fries and/or well done burger w. mayo & pickles we're all on the same cycle here at the restaurant and are all salt pms girls there is one week when all of the sudden smartfood, salt & vinegar chips & doritos are everywhere am considering putting up a salt lick in the basement

ohmigod I saw those yesterday they weren't pretty the purple was a bit grayish v. scary. so sad to hear about the coffee oreos was interested in trying those though can be a bit of a purist not wanting to stray too far from the ideal oreo ( don't do double stuff) though when I was growing up my grandparents had hydrox in stead of oreos 'casue they're kosher. Wasn't too sure about the mint ones as am a huge fan of grasshoppers (do they still even make those?) my cookie consumption has ebbed significantly the past few years but every so often reach for oreos, mallomars or grasshoppers and eat the whole box in a day or two, which is why I no longer keep cookies

my grandmother made those rolls, I loved them they had a really weird texture. During passover my mom would usually send us to school with a chicken leg or some other left-over meat thing or some cheese and buttered matzo wrapped in tin foil

ok Chimichurri yumm on charred london broil We top our grass fed all strip steak w. a compound butter of shallots, thyme & anchovy the anchovy really does something special it's like an elusive whisper of goodness I had a steak in some Neo Asian restaurant in London that came with 3 small dishes one had coarse salt the other coarse black pepper and the third lime juice, you dipped teh steak in to the lime juice then salt & pepper it was so so good I am not a huge fan of the cheese on steak thing too rich for me, but the chimchurri or a good squeeze of lemon or lime on grilled steak fantastic ( when I do them on my own sometimes i'll rub the steak with some anchovy & garlic befgore grilling then bit of black pepper & lemon juice when the just come off the grill)

ohmygod I remember chicken roll...my mom gave it to us on Branola bread w. mayo & lettuce in fact we had everything on branola bread chicken roll was on rotation, then there was kosher salami & muenster cheese (on branola), cream cheese & jelly and the dreaded cold scrambled egg sandwich actually now that I think about it there was a period when we did not have branola bread and that was when my mom decided to make her own bread ...helped my get rid of my loose teeth. I would look wistfully at all teh other kids with thier nutritionless white bread and bolonga or ham & cheese. But we didn't eat things like that, some how chicken roll was ok bolonga was not

Sara, It was a Hahn Mertitage a blend of 3 grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot & Cabernet Franc

Downtown beirut was amazing, great punk rock juke box and $1 drinks from 8 to 8! ...ahh my misspent youth

there's a restaurant in New haven called Vulna, and it's logo is a rather umm shall we say suggestive V design, I wonder what thier special is?

have had hanbanero ginger kettle chips yumm..also Utz has Old Bay Spice ones that are great w. tuna sandwich. I do have a slight additcion to Kettle balsamic vinegar & sea salt but have decided to only eat them when in the UK

they have them in Movie theatres in Philly & I think I saw then in a movie theatre in Fairfield CT. I've tried them, aren't they little ice cream balls not freieze dried, they were differnt from the "astronaut ice cream" which was definately freeze dried

ahh but after teh New Year we will be open Sunday nights!

Bella, has been open for awhile and we are near Rittenhouse Square. We've had some great reviews ..well Two so far in teh Phialdelphia Weekly & City Search. We also have a new Chef. Amanda MacWilliams..also of Striped Bass origins , Amanda was the chef most recentkly at the Inn Philadelphia, we had worked together in teh past and she becaem available so I got her in here to Bella as fast as I could. Menu, reviews etc are available on our website. Bella Website